Gamescom: Cole Blows Crap Up In Infamous 2

While our very own Greg Miller blew the crap out of Infamous 2 in his E3 2010 preview, the recent showing of the title at this year's Gamescom did reveal a few new details. So what, you ask, was shown to me besides the freshly reworked design of the franchise's hero, Cole? Read on and see.

For a great breakdown of what the original Infamous was, as well as an intro to where inFamous 2 picks up, check out the last preview. Suffice it to say that you play as a badass superhero who is in desperate need of even more badassery, putting him on a quest to strengthen his already considerable powers. Along the way you'll make some moral choices, yadda, yadda, yadda -- you get the point.

Infamous' story was never the big reason I liked the first, as I was more about the destructive power of Cole, and for those who feel the same way, the sequel has plenty to offer. Set in a new city called New Marais (essentially an artistic license on New Orleans), the goal was to offer players a variety of settings they could wreak havoc (or at least blow stuff up) in. The new city will feature buildings like the first, only now they're architecture is designed so that it works well with the game's enhanced parkour mechanics. Besides buildings, New Marais will also feature swamps, with the demo I saw showcasing what looked like a swampy graveyard, in which Cole blew a whole bunch of human enemies to the sky.

Enemies weren't the only things flying during Cole's outburst of power, either, as large portions of the environment were unable to escape the fray. From towers holding enemies, to large stone columns, little could avoid crumbling before the might of Cole's lightning powers. The new level of destructible terrain really adds a layer of depth that wasn't there in the first game, not only making the city feel more real, but also making the Cole's abilities feel much more substantial than they were previously.

One new power that really lets Cole wreak some havoc is the just-revealed Kinetic Pulse. Using this ability allows Cole to pick up objects in the environment via electricity, holding them up in the air like a Force-wielding Jedi before throwing them at some unfortunate soul. In the demo, this resulted in several strangely beautiful explosions, causing citizens to run for their lives, and the Ravager -- a new enemy type that represents some sort of monster threat that's attacking the city -- to die a painful death.

Boom goes the Electric Man.

I'm told the game will, like the first, have multiple endings and that the team is still exploring the ways they're going to make your decisions have a more dramatic effect both on the story and the world around you, but that wasn't important to me when watching this demo. What was important to me was that Sucker Punch wasn't going to neuter Cole's powers in an attempt to make you start over anew -- instead giving the player all his previous powers and just egging us on to see how crazy his abilities can get. I for one can't wait to see just how much destruction I can cause in the good ol' South.